With Christmas quickly approaching, I thought we could take some time to talk about some Holiday photo tips. I know what you’re going through. The hectic shopping, decorating, wrapping, planning, cooking blahblahblah. The absolute last thing you want to think about is making sure your photos aren’t blurry when you finally have time to look at them in 2013, am I right?
Right! So, let’s talk about a couple tips you can use to prepare yourself for the perfect Christmas shot without driving yourself nuts on the 24th and 25th.
Let’s start by talking about the Christmas tree. That grand focal point of most Christmas photos–it’s a pain to get good shots of! We’ve all been there with photos of the tree in the middle of the day that make it look naked, or photos at night that make it look really blurry and almost unrecognizable. What you actually want is a clear shot of the tree, the kids and the presents that shows the lights on the tree and the shine in your little ones’ eyes!
TIP #1 – High ISO, slow shutter speed. This allows more light to get in, which is good! This obviously doesn’t work if the kids are in the photo, because they’ll never sit still long enough for the slow shutter speed, but for the decorations, this works wonders.
TIP #2 – If possible, use a tripod. Why? Because it takes really steady hands to keep the camera still long enough for the slow shutter speed needed to get great shots of the lights on the tree! If you don’t have a tripod, no worries, find a counter, or a hearth to set your camera on. And if none of that is possible, well…just try to stand REALLY slow.
TIP #3 – Use natural light whenever possible! If you get the kids just a little further away from the tree than you think they should be and use light from the windows instead of lamps, you might be surprised how lovely the shot looks.
We’ll be back with more over the course of this week, leading up to the big day, but please don’t forget a few REALLY important tips:
1. Keep your camera close! You never know when that perfect moment might arise.
2. Get yourself into some of the photos! Don’t want it to look like you missed the day because you were behind the camera the whole time.
3. Enjoy the moments…don’t get so caught up in taking pictures that you don’t enjoy the day.